Combinatorial chemistry

Stem range

Stem (Tollesbury, UK) has introduced a range of affordable stations to easily synthesize compounds for both solid- and solution-phase combinatorial chemistry. The Reacto-Stations can perform up to 50 reactions with simultaneous heating and stirring. Sample loss through evaporation can be minimized using reflux modules. And a specially modified chilling unit is able to take the system down to –80°C. Cycles are controlled by external software. Tel: +44 1621 868685 Fax: +44 1621 868445 support@stemcorp.com 

Heavy-duty shaking

New Brunswick Scientific's (Edison, NJ) shakers are able to withstand the stresses of rapidly agitating reaction blocks, heavy workloads up to 40 lb, and sudden stops with minimal wear or vibration, making them ideal for combinatorial applications. The Innova Model 2130 can mix in a 0.75-inch stroke at speeds up to 500 r.p.m., and can allow a robotic device to fill or extract solutions from the reaction block. For high-speed mixings and washings, the Model 2180 offers a shorter stroke and extended speed range up to 800 r.p.m. Tel: +1 800 631 5417 Fax: +1 732 287 4222 http://www.nbsc.com 

Clamp down

The Combi-Clamp from Whatman (Clifton, NJ) enlarges the universe of reactions available to chemists using combinatorial synthesis to generate libraries of compounds for screening. Combi-Clamp can be used with any Whatman 96-well 2 ml Uni-Filter filter-bottom microplate. It allows the use of organic and other highly volatile solvent systems by eliminating the problems associated with evaporation, allowing optimization of reaction times and conditions, as well as eliminating loss of sample or solvent due to dripping. Tel: +1 888 WHATMAN Fax: +1 973 773 7623 http://www.whatman.com 

Spectroscopy

Broad spectrum

Assays in both the UV and visible spectrum can be performed on one instrument using BioRad's (Hemel Hempsted, UK) spectrophotometer. The SmartSpec 3000 has a wavelength range from 200 to 800 nm and is ideal for molecular biology and proteomics research. It is capable of simple quantitations for nucleic acids, oligos, and proteins. It can also perform and store standard curves to increase the speed of sample analysis. Tel: +44 1442232552 Fax: +44 1442 259118 

Compact mass spec

The Finnigan LCQDUO is a benchtop ion trap LC/MS offering high qualitative and quantitative sensitivity combined with automated library-searchable MS/MS spectra. Scanning functions include full-scan selected ion monitoring, selected reaction monitoring, full-scan MS/MS, and ZoomScan. Included is the Xcalibur software data system, allowing complete control of the company's line of mass spectrometers. The Finnigan LCQDUO is available from ThermoQuest (San Jose, CA). Tel: +1 408 577 1053 Fax: +1 408 577 1641 http://www.finnigan.com

Accessory compatible

Nicolet (Warwick, UK) has launched a series of fully upgradeable FT-IR spectrometers for near, mid, far, and FT Raman work. The Nexus series has a range of sampling accessories, plus plug-and-play beam splitters enabling the interchange of wide spectral ranges within seconds. Accessories are automatically recognized by the Omnic software, which is fed into the Nexus Smart system, linking the spectrometer, sampling accessory, and spectral information so that sampling is quick and simple. Tel: +44 1962 417700 Fax: +44 1962 417701 

Seeing specs

The SpectraVideo system of high-performance CCD detectors for spectroscopic applications is available from PixelVision (Beaverton, OR). It integrates 16-bit, thermoelectrically cooled front- and back-illuminated CCD with KestrelSpec data acquisition, imaging, 3-D display software, and support for most popular spectrographs, and options include a hermetically sealed, no-maintenance detector head, multihead fibers, 1-inch and area detector arrays, and LabView drivers. Tel: +1 503 629 3210 Fax: +1 503 629 3211 http://www.pv-inc.com